From mentorship to pushing forward new technology, spine surgeons are thinking about their 2021 goals halfway through the year.
Here's what three spine surgeons say they hope to achieve:
Note: Responses were lightly edited for style.
Question: What's one goal you have for the second half of 2021?
Norah Foster, MD, Premier Health (Dayton, Ohio): As 2021 progresses, I hope to continue to mentor those who may be interested in medicine and/or orthopaedic surgery. Inclusivity and diversity within the speciality of orthopaedics has lagged behind its other medical peers. Premier Orthopaedics has recognized this and recently committed itself to establishing an Orthopaedic Externship for local minority and female high school students who are interested in exploring orthopaedics as a career path to start later this summer. With early exposure and mentorship, we hope to create a pipeline for people who otherwise may not have had exposure to our field nor the guidance necessary to navigate what can be a cutthroat path for the non-male majority student.
Kern Singh, MD. Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush (Chicago): My goal is to make TDi (tissue differentiation) a commercial success. It has been eight years getting to this point, and we are almost at the finish line. TDi will allow surgeons of all skill levels to be able to access and traverse the psoas muscle safely with real time quantitative ultrasound imaging. Surgeons will now be able to “see” the nerve roots rather than blindly guessing where they may be using electromyography
John Rhee, MD. Emory University School of Medicine (Atlanta): My goal is that the Cervical Spine Research Society will have an extremely successful in-person Annual Meeting and Instructional Course. We have planned an outstanding meeting that will highlight the best in cervical spine research, as well as didactic talks by world-renowned cervical spine surgeons.